SRINAGAR: Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday ordered Internet service providers to block popular social media services including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp after an upsurge in violence in the region.
In a statement, the local government said the services were “being misused by anti-national and anti-social elements” and should be blocked for one month or until further notice “in the interest of maintenance of public order.”
It is the first time the government has taken such a step, although it regularly blocks the mobile Internet signal in the volatile Kashmir valley.
Indian-administered Kashmir has been tense since April 9, when eight people were killed by police and paramilitaries during by-election violence.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the valley, where most people favor independence or a merger with mainly Muslim Pakistan.
Clashes between rebels and government forces have become more frequent since the killing of a popular rebel leader by security forces last July sparked widespread unrest.
Authorities say militants are using social media sites to rally support.
Earlier this week the leader of Jammu and Kashmir, the northern state that administers the area, held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the developing crisis.
Hundreds of student protesters have taken to the streets in recent weeks, many chanting anti-India slogans and throwing rocks at police.
The students were angered by a raid earlier this month on a college in the southern district of Pulwama in which police tried to detain the alleged ringleaders of earlier protests.
Indian Kashmir blocks social media after clashes
Indian Kashmir blocks social media after clashes
Egypt to receive $1.2 billion as part of IMF program in January, finance minister says
CAIRO: Egypt is expected to receive a $1.2 billion disbursement from the International Monetary Fund this month as part of an $8 billion program with the international lender, Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said on Sunday.
Last month, the IMF said it reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt on the fourth review of the 46-month Extended Fund Facility arrangement, potentially unlocking the $1.2 billion disbursement.
“The (IMF’s executive) board will convene in January and, God willing, we will receive the amount in January,” Kouchouk told ON TV in an interview, adding Egypt had not requested an increase to the $8 billion loan.
Egypt, grappling with high inflation and shortages of foreign currency, agreed to the expanded IMF program in March. A sharp decline in Suez Canal revenue caused by regional tensions over the last year compounded its economic woes.
Kouchouk also said Egypt is targeting about $3 billion in the remainder of the current fiscal year, which runs until the end of June, through “diverse issuances” to investors, without elaborating further. His comments came in response to a question about whether Egypt plans to offer new bonds to foreign investors this year.
France holds Algerian influencers on charges of urging violence
- Prosecutors announced the arrests of Imad Tintin and Yousseff on Friday and Interior minister Bruno Retailleau on Sunday announced a third arrest
LYON: French authorities on Sunday held three Algerians suspected of inciting violence in TikTok videos, with at least two of them facing terror-related charges.
The arrests come amid growing political tensions between Paris and its former North African colony.
A video blogger known as “Imad Tintin” was arrested Friday outside Grenoble after publishing a video urging followers to “burn alive, kill and rape on French territory.”
The post was taken down after receiving 800,000 views but hard-line right-wing Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau published a video grab on his social media accounts, condemning the publication as “vile.”
A judge on Sunday placed the 31-year-old blogger under judicial supervision, Grenoble prosecutors said.
He was due to appear Monday in a fast-track trial on charges of “direct incitement of an act of terrorism,” the state prosecution service said.
“Imad Tintin” entered France in December 2021 and applied for a residence permit in August 2023 after his marriage to a French woman. But his application was refused and he is also subject to an expulsion order.
In a second case, a 25-year-old Algerian identified as Youcef A. but known on social media as Zazou Youssef was remanded in custody Friday in the western city of Brest, prosecutor Camille Miansoni said in a statement.
He will stand trial there on February 24 on a charge of “publicly advocating an act of terrorism” in posts to his hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers, she said.
He faces up to seven years in jail and a 100,000-euro ($103,000) fine if convicted, the statement added.
Zazou Youssef appeared in a video posted on TikTok on December 31, calling for attacks in France and violence in Algeria.
He was living in France on a temporary residency permit.
TikTok told AFP the account from which the video was posted had been banned for posting several videos that broke its rules on hate speech.
Prosecutors announced the arrests of Imad Tintin and Yousseff on Friday and Interior minister Bruno Retailleau on Sunday announced a third arrest.
The third man was detained in the southern coastal city of Montpellier for violent comments targeting an Algerian activist opposed to that country’s government.
Prosecutors told AFP local authorities had reported a video in which the influencer said of the activist: “Kill him, let him suffer.”
The regional prefect’s office told AFP it was considering withdrawing that blogger’s residence permit and issuing an expulsion order.
Tensions have surged between France and Algeria after President Emmanuel Macron renewed French support for Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara during a landmark visit to the kingdom last year.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is mostly under the de facto control of Morocco. But it is claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, who are demanding a self-determination referendum and are supported by Algiers.
French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, a major figure in modern francophone literature, has meanwhile been imprisoned by the Algerian authorities since mid-November on national security charges.
Mentioning Sansal’s case on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said he had “doubts” over Algeria’s commitment to a roadmap set out by the two sides in 2022 to smooth post-colonial relations.
“Zazou Youssef” and “Imad Tintin” have joined “the war waged in France by the Algerian regime,” Chawki Benzehra, an Algerian dissident, told AFP.
Benzehra took refuge in France after taking part in pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019.
He accused the Algerian authorities of mobilizing a “significant” number of influencers calling for “violence.”
Palestinian ministry says Israeli forces kill teenager in West Bank raid
- Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that Madani was hit when Israeli forces fired bullets, flares and tear gas
NABLUS, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian health ministry in the Israeli-occupied West Bank stated that Israeli forces had killed a teenager during a raid on a refugee camp near the city of Nablus Sunday.
Mutaz Ahmad Abdul Wahab Madani, 17, was “killed and two others were wounded by occupation forces’ gunfire during a raid near Askar Camp east of Nablus,” the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that Madani was hit when Israeli forces fired bullets, flares and tear gas.
Medics reported that Madani had been shot in the chest and that Israeli forces initially kept him with them before handing him to Palestinian medics.
He was then transported to Rafidia hospital in a critical condition but succumbed to his wounds, a medic said.
Violence in the West Bank has intensified since war broke out in the Gaza Strip after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Since then, at least 818 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers, according to the health ministry.
In the same period, Palestinian attacks in the West Bank have killed at least 25 Israelis, according to official Israeli figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since conquering it in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
FBI looking into New Orleans attack suspect’s visits to Egypt, Canada
- The FBI said Jabbar made at least two trips to New Orleans in the months prior to the attack, one in October and the other in November
WASHINGTON: The FBI is looking into past visits to Egypt and Canada by the suspect in the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people after a truck was rammed into a crowd of revelers, an FBI official told reporters on Sunday.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US Army veteran aged 42 who had pledged allegiance to the Daesh extremist group, was the suspect in the attack and the FBI says he acted alone. He was killed in a shootout with police after the rampage, which also injured dozens of people and has been labeled by the FBI as an act of terrorism.
“We have also tracked that Jabbar traveled to Cairo, Egypt, from June 22 until July 3 of 2023. A few days later he flew to Ontario, Canada, on July 10 and returned to the US on July 13 of 2023,” Lyonel Myrthil, FBI special agent in charge of the New Orleans field office, said at a press briefing.
“Our agents are getting answers as to where he went, who he met with and how those trips may or may not tie into his actions in our city in New Orleans,” he added.
The FBI also said Jabbar made at least two trips to New Orleans in the months prior to the attack, one in October and the other in November.
The suspect stayed in a rental home in New Orleans during that time, the FBI said, adding he recorded videos with Meta glasses traveling through the French Quarter, the neighborhood in New Orleans where the attack occurred on Bourbon Street.
The New Orleans coroner’s office has identified all 14 deceased victims, among whom the youngest was aged 18 and the oldest was 63. Most were in their 20s.
Saudi FM meets US envoy to discuss developments in Lebanon
- Explored collaborative efforts to address challenges facing Lebanese people and in broader region
RIYADH: Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with Amos Hochstein, the US Special Envoy to Lebanon, on Sunday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Riyadh.
The meeting focused on regional issues, with particular attention given to the situation in Lebanon, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Both sides exchanged views on recent developments and explored collaborative efforts to address the challenges facing the Lebanese people and the broader region, SPA added.
Also in attendance was Prince Yazid bin Mohammed bin Fahd Al-Farhan, advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Lebanese Affairs, who contributed to the discussions.
